During this long yet eventful process I had a bad accident while on a friend’s horse riding alone on the road which completely shattered my confidence to hack out in company, never mind alone. Although that same week I did get back in the saddle and pop Magic (Jane’s pony) over a few fences, as time went on my confidence slipped further and further away until…
Lottie’s owner got back in touch to let me know she would be advertising her; I jumped at the chance to have her back. The first time I went to ride she was nervous of leaving her field friend, so after her prancing about trying to get back to her while I was trying to groom and tack up, I decided that a nervous rider and a nervous pony out on the road was not a good combination. So we went for a walk instead. This involved more prancing about and a lot of whinnying for her friend but we did it and got back to the field safely.
The day after, Lottie’s owner came to ride with me and noting that I was nervous reassured me by setting off up the road very cautiously. My aim was to get on, ride and get back safely and I achieved that. This made me realise that the reason I enjoyed riding Lottie in the first place was because of her little quirks and that I needed to stop being silly and just get on and
ride.
So the next ride out I did, I got on and rode on my own. I tacked up and lead her out of the field. Just as I got out a nervous panic flushed over me. I reassured myself that I’ve done it before and I can again. I jumped on and set off walking up the road, alone. When I reached the top of the hill, which was my goal, I realised that I’d been panicking for no reason and that I knew this pony so I continued up into Grassington Main Street and towards the moors. We returned home safely and I was extremely happy that I’d finally done it.
Since then I’ve ridden out nearly every day with Lottie and sometimes with our friends too, and it feels so good to finally be confidently back in the saddle!